New 348 owner has a few more questions

1) Very common especially for 2nd gear.

2) I'd talk to burt and ask why he smells Not familiar with this.

3) Is it a green 0:00? That is the clock. I've only set mine once because it keeps HORRIBLE time. Mine just blinks the 0:00 now.

I hope this helps!

 

to reset the clock is easy...just take a small screwdriver or pencil and push the little dots on the two buttons underneath the clock. I believe you press the left on first and then use the right to adjust the time. One of the settings is for a timer so play around with it for a little bit...you'll figure it out.

 

let the engine warm up before driving, this should allow for better shifting.
i let my car warm up for 5 minutes before driving.
burnt toast ?? were the cats recently replaced? sometimes new cats have an odor when hot. or maybe someone used silicone to dress the engine and it was burning off. i sometimes do this.
flashing 00 is your clock.

 

Perform search on 348 A/c fix to learn how to take the centeral unti out and clean - majority of the time fixes these probelms with clock and A/C.

 

If you want to use 2nd gear while the gear oil is still cold (i.e. the first 5 to ten minutes of driving), then you'll have to replace the Ferrari gear oil with either Red Line's synthetic SuperLight Shock Proof 70W90 gear oil, or with Red Line's MTL, or with Royal Purple's gear oil.

Do NOT overfill.

If you want even smoother shifts, adjust your transmission's shift rod while the gear-shift is locked in Neutral (the 348 workshop manual says to adjust it in 2nd gear, don't go there). You can also buy a better shift-rod bushing for about $23 from www.durable1.com.

Some people even advocate drilling oil relief holes in your transmission itself (in the boss for 2nd gear).

I didn't go that last route, however. I did go with the slickshift gear-shift gate, bought the better shift rod bushing, and re-filled the tranny with Red Line's 70w90 SuperLight Shock Proof gear oil.

You'd have to drive my car to experience the difference (wait, you own one of these fine machines, so you can duplicate what I've done!), but now my 348 Spider shifts butter smooth, even when cold.

The difference was so shocking the first time that I shifted into 2nd gear after the gear oil change that at first I didn't believe that I had made it into gear.

I can tell you that if you overfill, even with the Red Line gear oil, that your shifts will become difficult again.

Oh, I added the Z-Max tranny fluid when I made the gear oil change, too. I figure that their 150,000 mile transmission warranty (good as long as you keep adding their fluid every 6 months) on a multi-thousand Dollar tranny is well worth my $40. Who knows, that may also be why my shifts are so smooth.


Now...as for your burnt toast smell...are you certain that your emergency brake is completely released?